Despite its length, the film doesn’t feel long due to the drawn out but constant revelations in the investigation, the graphic sub-plots and the arresting shots of the snow-covered Swedish countryside. While Craig is a little too fit for Larsson’s portly Blomkvist he does capture the restless obsessiveness of the reporter, niggling over all the case’s elements. Mara’s sullen apprehensiveness starkly portrays the oppressed but assertive Salander, personifying Larsson’s descriptions with a powerfully understated on-screen presence. While American translation remakes are often exaggerated and crass without the subtleties of the original language, Fincher’s attempt delivers Larsson’s layered plotting, abstruse characters and gory imagery with the same respect and veneration as Niels Arden Oplev’s 2009 version.

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